Recently, manufacturing companies have had to adapt to environmental changes that have called into question the traditional roles of the salesperson and marketeer. With major distributors of consumer goods growing increasingly powerful, they demand not only better terms from suppliers in exchange for scarce shelf space, but also brands that will continue to develop a category and increase footfall. Traditionally, manufacturers' account managers told their marketing departments that they couldn't get more shelf space without further trade deals. The result? Brand managers simply pushed more money into sales promotions, and had less with which to build their brands. The absurdity of this situation soon forced fmcg companies to rethink how they should manage and develop their brands. So what have they done? Well, they've shifted responsibility for promotional implementation from the marketeer to the salesperson. This role shift means that many of the responsibilities and tasks of brand managers are now shared with, or have been given to, account managers. This has had a knock on effect on the traditional promotions ladder through the marketing department, but also means brand managers spend less time creating promotion plans to become more involved in product and production improvements. And for account managers it means adopting new skills developing consultative approaches to trade and category management. But, it's not all doom and gloom ­ fmcg companies have a greater need than ever for effective marketeers in a climate of declining levels of brand loyalty. What has happened is evolution ­ the environment in which the marketing function was created and thrived has been drastically altered. And by teaming marketing skills with sales expertise, the impact of that is lessened. {{TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT }}